Avoid using GAS and ELECTRIC !

nicki_2

susank wrote:

I think if your house is getting black mildew and damp patches you really need to consider putting on the heating - for a start its not good for us to ingest the mould and its also not good for the fabric of the house to get damp either.

Thats the problem with this house... EVERY winter since we've moved here (this winter will be our 3rd) my DD gets very chesty and gets alot of infections. Our first winter here she missed most of the term at nursery from Christmas (she went in the first day and got sent home sick) through to April. We managed to get the odd day in here and there when it was warmer/drier but even last year with heaters fitted she was still ill. She's had 1 chest infection so far since September but I'm hoping she won't be as ill this year. I'm doing my best to keep ontop of the mould/mildew but when it literally develops overnight I can't always deal with it straight away :mad:

In our old house we had central heating and no chest infections or anything...even when the boiler went bang and we were left without heating for a week as it happened on the 23rd December!

givememoney

Is it your own house or do you rent it?

If you rent surely it is the responsibility of the council/landlord to sort out damp promblems.

As the other person says, it not a healthy environment so if it is your own place I suppose try to put it top of the list for sorting out. Not easy I know if you are short of money.

mirry

when my son was 2 years old, we had the bathroom redone by council and central heating put in because our first house had so much mould.
it was a grant because my son is severly asthmatic .
worth asking .

nicki_2

givememoney wrote:

Is it your own house or do you rent it?

If you rent surely it is the responsibility of the council/landlord to sort out damp promblems.

As the other person says, it not a healthy environment so if it is your own place I suppose try to put it top of the list for sorting out. Not easy I know if you are short of money.

It's a rental house. I told the landlady yesterday that it doesn't matter what I do the mould/mildew just keeps growing :mad: She said she'll try to get someone out to have a look at it...hope it's not the fella who came last time and said "don't worry, its just condensation forming" :rolleyes: If it was condensation then wouldn't the walls be damp Anyways, don't tell anyone, but we're moving soon...our landlady doesn't know yet as we only have to give her a months notice Nice freshly decorated house with new bathroom, kitchen, central heating, double glazing, off road parking AND a garden :j:j Can't wait :D:D:D

susank

Glad you are getting out of it as it really needs heat to keep it mould free and also ventilation at the same time - see the money going out the windows!!!

mirry

Hi everyone , just got back off holiday and the house is very cold.
I drew the curtains before it turned dark and have a roast cooking in the oven to heat the house and dry the clothes around it.
We have all just had showers.
When away we visited the canal where my ancestors used to be canal boat people and I could belive how hard they had it !
The whole family used to live all thru the winter out on the canal with hardly any heating......makes me think how lucky I am.
So am really determined still to keep it going, have my thermal socks on and sittting in a sleeping bag, kids think its great (so far ) lol.

earner

My front door has a whole 1" gap under it. Bend down and you can watch cars, cycles and people walking past in the street.
I have no DIY skills, so instead, on cold days/nights, I fold the free papers in half and plug the gap with that. Works a treat.

easypeasy_2

I am fortunate to have an open fire in my lounge. I wrap the boys up really well for the night and light the fire for the evening. We took a very large branch off one of the trees in the garden and have chopped it up into log's. That should do us for a couple of months and keep us cosy !

kethry

earner wrote:

My front door has a whole 1" gap under it. Bend down and you can watch cars, cycles and people walking past in the street.
I have no DIY skills, so instead, on cold days/nights, I fold the free papers in half and plug the gap with that. Works a treat.

i have very little in the way of DIY skills either.. but it honestly wouldn't take a lot to take a large piece of cloth, about the same length as the door, maybe a forearm's length wide, press the "right" sides together, sew with fairly small stitches together on the long side, so you have a "tube", then turn the right way out, and sew in fairly big running stiches around one end, and pull the two ends of your thread together so that it pulls the gap at one end of your tube closed. Tie off that thread. You can either stuff it with old clothes/rags/sheets/newspapers or with proper stuffing from a haberdashery (i got a big bag for a couple quid that did for one of these) and then repeat the long running stitch around the other end, pull the threads to close it, and voila, you have a sausage to go in front of the door to keep the cold/draughts out.

if you're really feeling adventurous you can do it so that one side is left longer, in a sort of b shape, then use tacks to put the top of the b against the door - that way if you open/close the door, it'll pull closed behind you - a good idea if you work, for example.

i've enclosed a photo of mine (if i can figure it out)...

and (hope it works)

hope that helps!

keth
xx

spender

I am sorry if this has been posted before but I started trawling through all the posts and could not find it.

Turn the water temperature down. I can never understand why we spend good money on heating water when filling a bath only for people to add cold water to cool it down. Your water does not have to be so piping hot you need to cool it down. If I have really greasy pans I will boil the kettle or turn the water up (combi boiler) to deal and then turn it down again. Another thing which I never use is the warmstart on the boiler, this is when the water in your pipes is kept warm so instantly getting hot water when the tap is turned on. I can wait a few seconds for it to heat up.

The best investment recently has been the new boiler, it is very efficient and replaced two old boilers (one for water, one for heat).

Anyway back to a mug of steaming tea, my computer, MSE and if necessary a nice fleecy blanket.